Richard Vernon Huffman (December 18, 1914 – March 18, 1995) was an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player. He was born in Mooreland, Indiana and was raised in and around New Castle, Indiana. He played basketball for the New Castle High School team that won the Indiana state basketball championship in 1932. He enrolled at

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

in 1932 and played both football and basketball there. He was an All-American in both basketball and football at Indiana and won the 1936 ''Chicago Tribune'' Silver Football as the best football player in the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

. He was drafted in the third round of the 1937 NFL Draft. He played two seasons of professional football in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

for the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

in 1937 and 1938. Huffman later managed a dairy and worked for the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

. He was inducted into the Indiana Hoosiers Hall of Fame in 1982. Huffman died in 1995 at age 80 in

Bloomington, Indiana Bloomington is a city in Monroe County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. The population was 79,168 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the List of municipalities in Indiana, seventh-most populous city in Indiana and ...

. Huffman's brother Marv was also an All-American basketball player at Indiana and later played professionally with the

Akron Goodyear Wingfoots The Akron Goodyear Wingfoots are one of the oldest basketball teams in the United States. They were founded in 1918, by the workers at the Goodyear Tire Company, in Akron, Ohio. The teams, while giving workers recreation, also helped to promote ...

of the National Basketball League.

References

1914 births 1995 deaths All-American college men's basketball players American football halfbacks American football quarterbacks American men's basketball players Basketball players from Indiana Detroit Lions players Indiana Hoosiers football players Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball players Indianapolis Kautskys players New Castle High School (Indiana) alumni People from New Castle, Indiana Players of American football from Indiana 20th-century American sportsmen {{runningback-1910s-stub